#DFG: Canceling the Noise
- Thread starter nattysez
- Start date
Brady has gone on record saying he did not ever ask for balls to be altered after the ref's initial check. From the transcript of Brady's appeal testimony in front of Goodell:
Direct/Kessler/Brady pages 96-97
Q. Okay. As you are sitting here today, I am going to ask you to be very clear. Did you ever give anyone any directions or instructions or authorization, anything, for the AFC Championship Game that they should alter, change, lower the pressure of footballs?
A. Absolutely not.
Q. Okay. You never authorized it?
A. No.
Q. Okay. Do you know somebody did it despite your authorization?
A. I don't know what you mean.
Q. In other words, are you aware that, even know you didn't authorize it, they did it anyway?
A. No.
Q. Are you aware of that?
A. No.
Q. Do you know that?
A. Absolutely not. I wasn't there.
Q. Okay. As you are sitting here right now, do you still believe Mr. Jastremski that when he told you he didn't know anything about it and he didn't do anything?
A. Yes.
Q. Has anyone in the Patriots organization, anyone else ever told you that they did anything to deflate the footballs on that day after they were tested by the referees?
A. Absolutely not.
Redirect/Kessler/Brady Page 141
Q. So I'm now going to ask you the question that he didn't ask you. In that text message, do you recall whether there was any discussion of deflation or pressure or the Wells investigation or anything else that you recall in those text messages?
A. Absolutely not.
Q. Okay. For all the text messages you've ever sent Mr. Jastremski, okay, including all the ones that were identified on January 19th, January 20th, January 21st, did you ever discuss with him -- did he ever tell you that he deflated any footballs?
A. No.
Q. Did he ever tell you that anyone else ever deflated any footballs?
A. Absolutely not.
Q. Did you ever discuss with him any effort to conceal any deflation of footballs from investigators or anything else?
A. Absolutely not."
https://nbcprofootballtalk.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ex-204-appeal-hearing-transcript-t-brady.pdf
Brady also explains that day why he had more conversations/texts with JJ after the Colts Game as this was JJ's first time going to the Superbowl and each team had to submit 100 game balls which is almost 10 times what he would normally have to prepare.
Direct/Kessler/Brady pages 96-97
Q. Okay. As you are sitting here today, I am going to ask you to be very clear. Did you ever give anyone any directions or instructions or authorization, anything, for the AFC Championship Game that they should alter, change, lower the pressure of footballs?
A. Absolutely not.
Q. Okay. You never authorized it?
A. No.
Q. Okay. Do you know somebody did it despite your authorization?
A. I don't know what you mean.
Q. In other words, are you aware that, even know you didn't authorize it, they did it anyway?
A. No.
Q. Are you aware of that?
A. No.
Q. Do you know that?
A. Absolutely not. I wasn't there.
Q. Okay. As you are sitting here right now, do you still believe Mr. Jastremski that when he told you he didn't know anything about it and he didn't do anything?
A. Yes.
Q. Has anyone in the Patriots organization, anyone else ever told you that they did anything to deflate the footballs on that day after they were tested by the referees?
A. Absolutely not.
Redirect/Kessler/Brady Page 141
Q. So I'm now going to ask you the question that he didn't ask you. In that text message, do you recall whether there was any discussion of deflation or pressure or the Wells investigation or anything else that you recall in those text messages?
A. Absolutely not.
Q. Okay. For all the text messages you've ever sent Mr. Jastremski, okay, including all the ones that were identified on January 19th, January 20th, January 21st, did you ever discuss with him -- did he ever tell you that he deflated any footballs?
A. No.
Q. Did he ever tell you that anyone else ever deflated any footballs?
A. Absolutely not.
Q. Did you ever discuss with him any effort to conceal any deflation of footballs from investigators or anything else?
A. Absolutely not."
https://nbcprofootballtalk.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ex-204-appeal-hearing-transcript-t-brady.pdf
Brady also explains that day why he had more conversations/texts with JJ after the Colts Game as this was JJ's first time going to the Superbowl and each team had to submit 100 game balls which is almost 10 times what he would normally have to prepare.
Jesus, this guy's counterargument to everything was "well, sir, I know your Tom Brady's Dad, but that's not what the NFL says!"Van Everyman said:
I have never heard of this guy, but I guarantee you, like every other NFL fan, he's spent days worth of time on the air talking about how Goodell and the NFL are liars in other situations. He actually impled he believed that Mort's tweet is still accurate! In response to Brady Sr's point that Tom wasn't given the correct PSI readings until March 28, he screams "THAT'S NOT WHAT THE NFL SAYS!!" What a buffoon.
"Tom Brady's angry dad calls San Francisco radio show, calls the host "full of crap" & Roger Goodell a "flaming liar""
Perfect. Now somone should accuse Goodell of burning down his house in an insurance scheme. Between the "flaming liar" comment and the charred wreckage, that's pretty damning evidence. Sure, we'll pretty quickly learn that there is no charred wreckage and his house is fine, but certainly Goodell wIll have to agree that the fact that his house didn't burn down doesn't mean he didn't burn down his house. I mean, "flaming liar," right?
Perfect. Now somone should accuse Goodell of burning down his house in an insurance scheme. Between the "flaming liar" comment and the charred wreckage, that's pretty damning evidence. Sure, we'll pretty quickly learn that there is no charred wreckage and his house is fine, but certainly Goodell wIll have to agree that the fact that his house didn't burn down doesn't mean he didn't burn down his house. I mean, "flaming liar," right?
I thought so, too, but it does sound like him and the radio station apparently confirmed it.TheShynessClinic said:
Plus, there are probably so few people in San Fran who have the grasp of facts he did, it lends credence to it being him.
CSteinhardt said:
Excellent.
I actually think the "sorry I hurt your feelings" is perfect.
Facts vs. Feelings... all the public discourse is about how opposing teams, fans, and the League feel. That's the whole purpose of Goodell's PR smear... to make the rest of the country feel like something happened.
The facts come from relevant evidence, testimony under oath, and the judicial process (as opposed to the obviously-abused League process).
TB12 can't help how you feel, and I'm guessing he genuinely feels badly that people have overreacted so much to whatever level of participation they have ascribed to him in this situation.
I think he's basically saying, "Too bad, so sad" in a polite way.
He's the GOAT.
Damn the torpedos... full steam ahead!
Eddie Jurak said:
Berman's decision doesn't prove that Brady's innocent. A proper analysis of the football PSI data does. Math class is hard though.
And of course, right on cue, Volin chimes in with a Hot Take 'Brady may have gotten off on a technicality, but he's still guilty of something' column. Guy really wants an ESPN gig.
This line of thought seems to be the takeaway from all the lazy press members who were happy to re-tweet Mort yet not do reporting of their own and dish out whatever tripe RG sells them. Totally unsurprising and pathetic.
This line of thought seems to be the takeaway from all the lazy press members who were happy to re-tweet Mort yet not do reporting of their own and dish out whatever tripe RG sells them. Totally unsurprising and pathetic.
ifmanis5 said:
It would be a good thing if the Pats lockerroom (on their own) decided that no one was going to speak to Ben Volin, ever. And if BB decided he wasn't going to engage with him during PCs.
It is fine for a beat writer to be critical of the team and ask tough questions. It is not ok for them to be ignorant sycophants for another party on a matter, lacking objectivity, knowledge, and critical thinking.
Yeah, I just read the Mark Kiszla column in the Denver Post, and wasn't sure if it was a parody or not.jercra said:
It starts like this:
"OK, let me get this straight: In the NFL, it's a big no-no to throw a tantrum in a strip club, but no problem if a star quarterback throws a deflated football in the AFC championship game. And that's why Broncos safety T.J. Ward will be suspended for the season opener, but Tom Brady was issued a get-out-of-jail-free card to play on national television for New England.
Hey, don't ask me to explain it. This is the messed-up football world that commissioner Roger Goodell created. Blame him.
Brady skates and another Bronco gets busted.
"My last name's not Brady," said Ward, explaining why he's the player who will be forced to sit out a game."
I mean who among us hasn't thrown a tantrum in a strip club and chucked some glasses at bartenders? But apparently that is a no-no in the NFL, while the guy was accused of more probably than not having knowledge of someone deflating a football by a couple of ticks of air pressure gets his four game suspension overturned only because the investigation was a total farce?
Clearly, the Broncos are the real victims in this whole thing.
I don't think he's going to say "my son" over and over though. The other alternatives are Tom, Tommy, NE quarterback, what else? Tom Brady sounds right. As for TB Sr's voice being in a higher tone, the talk show host's voice was pretty high also. As Natty Sez said, the station he called in to, KGO, is just part sports. I happened to catch the end of TB Sr's call-in on a repeat of it on KNBR 680 which is almost all sports. I think it was TB Sr., but I hope there's no high blood pressure, etc. going on with him. What the KGO guy Franklin said about Brady vs. Tebow should be grounds for his firing though. Ludicrous. OK, a verbal, then a written warning for his next idiotic utterances, and then fire him.TheShynessClinic said:
speedracer said:
"But..But... Berman didn't say that Brady was innocent..."
At any rate, I change my sig once every two or three years. I now have a new sig.
Part of this pisses me off, but this is the world that Goodell and his cronies created when they made the Brady case a Capital offense. Goodell wanted to rebrand himself after the Rice fiasco, but only fell on his face and made every single punishment questionable because of it. Why would he even want the power that he claimed to have after this failure? And tj ward is obviously nothing but a thug.The Gray Eagle said:
Denver people are the best, considering the salary cap cheating and the PED violations (most in the NFL, according to yourteamcheats.com).
Interesting factual nugget. I can connect Bart Hubbuch to my bibimbap vendor in Seoul in 6 steps, as well as Richard Berman and Chris Berman.
One of the top things on the list of what to do now is find out all the evidence the NFL had. They have a record of withholding exculpatory evidence. The Wells report talked at length about how unusual it was for McNally to take the balls unsupervised, when they had video of him taking them out twice, the second time after the testing at halftime, without anyone saying boo. They also stated that TB denied talking to Jastremski about the deflated footballs, when the transcript they tried to hide clearly showed that he did acknowledge talking about it. Who would be surprised if they had a picture snapped on some cellphone showing Anderson doing the pre-game measurements with theLogo gauge, and them letting Wells say the measurements were done with the non-Logo gauge since that hurts the Patriots?Gambler7 said:
This is what struck me about the stories on the owners looking to curb Goodell's powers for player discipline. It sounds like their leaving his powers for team discipline, and he's shown that he's completely untrustworthy for any kind of investigation.
Ed Hillel said:
Right. I just looked up the fine levied on the greased uniforms (3 players for $5,000 each), but noticed this nugget in Florio's Feb. 4, 2015 story:
Do we know now what the 4th case is?
Watching ESPN's puzzled reaction on Thursday morning's decision reminded me of when Spinal Tap was informed that their album cover was sexist. At first they had no idea what that word was or what it meant. Then after it was explained to them, their attitude was 'yeah, but still.'
"Look, guys, I didn't want to tell you this until I was sure but Brady isn't suspended."ifmanis5 said:
"What? What do you mean?"
"The judge overturned the suspension."
"Well that's not bad, right, what's wrong with getting a turnover?"
"No, not a 'turnover', Cris, 'overturned'"
"Huh?"
ifmanis5 said:
Such a fine line between stupid and clever.
"You should have seen the punishment they wanted to give him. It wasn't four games, believe me!"
Quote
There's 150 partners at Davis Polk, and about 35 people on Columbia's Trustees Emeriti http://secretary.columbia.edu/trustees-columbia-university/emeriti. I think we can thus conclude that absent other info, it is more probable than not that Stephen Case and Bob Kraft are generally aware of each other and that there is no reason to conclude Bob Kraft and Richard Berman are.
Also on that Columbia board: an actual competent commissioner (David Stern) and Second Circuit judge Jose Cabranes.
There's 150 partners at Davis Polk, and about 35 people on Columbia's Trustees Emeriti http://secretary.columbia.edu/trustees-columbia-university/emeriti. I think we can thus conclude that absent other info, it is more probable than not that Stephen Case and Bob Kraft are generally aware of each other and that there is no reason to conclude Bob Kraft and Richard Berman are.
Also on that Columbia board: an actual competent commissioner (David Stern) and Second Circuit judge Jose Cabranes.
BTW, any links to either video or audio clips of Bruschi slamming Goodell on Thursday on ESPN would be greatly appreciated.
Skip to 3:30.Harry Hooper said:
http://media.weei.com/a/108867109/tedy-bruschi-speaks-out-in-support-of-tom-brady-and-judge-berman-s-ruling-9-3-15.htm
It would be awesome if Garoppolo came out for the first drive, threw for a TD, and then returned the job to Brady.
At what point did the NFL realize that this was a potential CBA issue? Was it before or after they hired Wells? Before or after the Wells report came out? Before or after the suspension was handed out? I am really curious as to the timeline of when this went from a cover your ass operation to an attack on the CBA.
Goodell: We want to suspend this fucker for 8 games. Think you can come up with something?tims4wins said:
Wells, on the other end of the phone: Can you do that? What kind of evidence is necessary to suspend someone for half the season?
[Goodell glances at Pash. They shrug at each other.]
Kensil, chiming in from the background: We weighed the balls!
Wells: Nevermind. Five million, right?
The front office is adversarial and opportunistic. I imagine the idea of attacking the CBA is either ever present or just a bit back in the lizard brain.
The second the NFL thought of having an investigation, if not before.tims4wins said:
The Incognito case and Bountygate both had the same approach as DFG: absolve the owners, throw players under the bus, and incriminate coaches if you have to.
Every investigation run by Goodell is a vehicle for protecting the owners and going after players.
garzooma said:
The other thing to do is to create a definitive list of (a) false statements issued by the NFL, or people paid by the NFL; and (b) false statement in the media that are almost certainly attributable to folks in the NFL front office. I mean, people finally realize that Goodell & co screwed up, but most folks understand the depths of their deceptions, This is the time for someone to really lay it out there.
crystalline said:
What this smells like to me is a couple of guys in a position of power having a vendetta against Belichick (Kensil, Harbaugh) and Kraft (Irsay, Grigson) and the braniacs in the NFL not realizing pressures lower than 12.5 could be explained by science...then trapping themselves.
I have the Bruschi spot on Thursday's SC. It's about 15 minutes and I'll try and get it on YouTube and link it here. It'll be terrible quality.
As I watch it again, I'm struck by how many times Ley prefaced Tedy's remarks with 'you're a former Patriot, so you're biased.' Ley has literally never said that to any other ESPN analyst that I can recall about anything. Also, whenever possible Ley tried to paint the brightest picture for the NFL and RG. Tedy and Shefter were having none of that.
As I watch it again, I'm struck by how many times Ley prefaced Tedy's remarks with 'you're a former Patriot, so you're biased.' Ley has literally never said that to any other ESPN analyst that I can recall about anything. Also, whenever possible Ley tried to paint the brightest picture for the NFL and RG. Tedy and Shefter were having none of that.
Here is the Bruschi segment with Shefter and Ley on SportsCenter Thursday morning. I filmed it off my computer screen and the fan was going pretty loud so it sounds terrible, but you'll get the idea.
Enjoy it before ESPN makes me take it down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIT9cAtmb9Q
Enjoy it before ESPN makes me take it down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIT9cAtmb9Q
Interesting factual nugget: Judge Berman began his career with the law firm that represented the NFL in the USFLs antitrust suit, and got a result that essentially ran the USFL out of business.SeoulSoxFan said:
I mean, Berman personally had nothing to do with that, either. But as long as we're linking back to institutions.